PornFilmFestival: Goodbye to porn

Foxy Merkins

It’s hard to come down and hard to say goodbye to something good. It doesn’t yet seem real. I imagine now some panicked member of the incredibly hard-working Moviemento team hopping out of bed, running down Kottbusser Damm and being confused that the Kino isn’t full of lusty porn freaks. The 9. PornFilmFestival Berlin is now over. Last night the final films were screened, closed out by the hysterical The Foxy Merkins (photo), the prizes handed out and the last celebratory shots knocked back at Südblock.

Every year, the PornFilmFestival is like Christmas for me… but unlike Christmas, I’ve never been disappointed by the PornFilmFestival. I leave my daily routine and spend time with the most creative and interesting people in Berlin and throngs of international visitors. There’s quite a bit of work that goes into a film festival, but the pay-off comes at the perfect conflagration of great cinema and fascinating people. And any successful film festival will make your “must-see” list longer, instead of shorter.

And mine is… filmmakers like Ebo Hill, who I had not heard of before or Jürgen Anger, who I have heard of, but have not yet seen the films. I’ll have to catch up on my Courtney Trouble, whose Fucking Mystic blew me away and reminded me there’s more where that came from. And I will have to watch out for the works of L. E. Salas (more on him later). I’m patiently waiting for the third in Tatjana Turanskyj’s Women and Work trilogy. The list of intriguing filmmakers could go on, but you get the point – while I’m satisfied, I’m not full. And I have the festival to thank for that.

This year I also had the pleasure of being on the Feature Film Jury, working with two extremely talented and hardworking women – Ulrike Zimmermann, whose excellent Vulva 3.0 screened at this year’s festival, and Joanna Rytel, who incidentally won the best short film at the festival for her lauded “Once Upon a Time There Was An Unfaithful Mommy”. With 11 films up for our prize, the decision wasn’t easy – and we were watching all the way up until the point our decision was requested as the last film, The Black Widow, didn’t arrive in final form until three hours before its screening. Each of the 11 films had merits in one way or another, but there were some exceptional films also in the running: the aforementioned Fucking Mystic, Berlin’s own homegrown Shutter, Turanskyj’s Top Girl and many more.

But the one that took the cake for us was L.E. Salas Death Drive – it’s not an easy film, but its mesmerizing and cryptic depiction of self-destructive tendencies in gay male sexuality was something not seen before. Especially considering that the film is coming from a mainstream context… (not that mainstream – this won’t be screened at Cinestar any time soon). There’s a lot more to be said, but the statement will be posted on the PornFilmFestival website soon.

I also took a lesson in writing jury statements… no matter how intellectual and well thought out you want to make yourself and your colleagues seem, hearing our super academic text read out loud was a bit peinlich. If I’m ever on a film jury anywhere ever again, I’m only going to write one sentence – “It was a FUCKING GREAT FILM!” Gets to the point, doesn’t it?

Back to the festival this year, I also have to commend the curating team on some great themes this year – but it was the focus on old age and sex that was the most moving to me. Two films 69: Love Sex Senior and Baby I Will Make You Sweat approached the subjects in very different ways but did so with extreme bravery and artistic merit. The former had the two people in the cinema next to me in tears. The latter just had everyone in complete awe.

And now I come to an end. Closing out this blog can be tied to the festival ending, since it hasn’t quite sunk in, I’m not ready to write goodbye. But I will write thank you to everyone who put work into the festival and to the people that came. And if you’re reading this and you’re not one of those people, you better next year! There’s no greater happening in Berlin that feels so, well, Berlin.